Best way for ME to keep seeds?

[DWSmith]

I'm amazed (and naive) that some 11 year old tomato seeds sprouted. I'm disappointed that some 4 year old onion seeds failed but read that onion seeds don't keep very well.

I have a refrigerator/freezer available for seed storage and plenty of glass jars.

What would be the best way for me to keep seeds long term? Should I use silica gel to keep the humidity low in the jars? (I go back and forth on the silica gel. I've read that if the humidity gets too low the seeds can die.)

How do you store your seeds?

Thanks in advance!

[burnie]

You are entering a world of some quite severe science, I think amateurs(no offence intended) like us probably won't be competing with Kew Gardens any time soon.

[rary]

Keep them in the fridge, I stored mine in tins in the greenhouse and their viability was drastically reduced due to the high temperatures the tins are now in the garage where it is a steadier cooler temperature, I did have some tins in the bedroom but was told to get them out

[Jimny14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millen...nk_Partnership

-20 in hermetically sealed glass jars with silica gel and indicator compounds for moisture apparently.

[ameno]

The fridge is good temperature-wise, but you must be very careful about the dampness. Store them in air-tight containers (jars or tuppaware) and put a couple sachets of silica gel in with them.

[DWSmith]

Thanks for the replies everyone. With what all of you posted plus a couple of videos I finally found on youtube I should be able to devise some sort of storage setup for my seeds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py24z0DWc80

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_t7d0rt2n0

[roitelet]

Keeping in a tin in the out house, brick built, a few bay leaves to deter the seed bugs and some silica gel packets, it seems to work.

[Containergardener]

Mine are in tins in the house . Nothing has ever bothered them